Hearings begin in polygamist sect cases

MICHELLE ROBERTS

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, May 18, 2008

Associated Press Writer

A 6-year-old son of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs did not suffer physical or sexual abuse while living with his mother at the group's Texas ranch, a state child welfare case worker testified Monday.

Child Protective Services case worker Joni Manske testified during one of several hearings in which more than 400 individual cases are being considered. The massive custody cases got under way Monday in all five Tom Green County courtrooms, with parents learning what they must do to regain custody of the children. The hearings are expected to last three weeks.

Texas authorities have 463 children in foster care, taken because of allegations that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were forcing underage girls into marriage and sex at the sect's compound in Eldorado.

The attorney for the boy's 34-year-old mother, Sharon Barlow, objected to the CPS plan for her to get the boy back, saying it wasn't clear enough. Barlow must take parenting classes, find a safe living environment and undergo a psychological evaluation, according to the plan.

"This plan is so vague and so broad that my client has no idea what she can do now," attorney Donna Guion said.

State District Judge Barbara Walther agreed CPS should be more specific and asked Guion to provide ideas on how that might be done.

Walther asked Barlow during the hearing if she understood if her parental rights were subject to termination if she did not comply with the plan. Barlow, wearing a mint green prairie dress and hair braided back, softly replied "yes" but did not testify otherwise.

The boy, who has a prosthetic leg because of a birth defect, is one of 10 in state custody believed to be the children of Jeffs, the sect's jailed leader and prophet. Jeffs was convicted in Utah of being an accomplice to rape in the marriage of a 14-year-old to a 19-year-old.

More than 100 children still have not been matched with mothers. Officials have been trying to group siblings together with their mothers as the custody case moves forward. So far, 168 mothers and 69 fathers have been identified in court documents, though DNA test results are two to four weeks away.

But the case, which began with a raid on April 3, has been marked by confusion since the beginning.

CPS has complained that women and children have given different names and lied about ages. The agency has also struggled with identification of children and women because many have similar names, and some of the young women, who don't wear makeup and braid their hair, look much younger than their actual age.

As many as two dozen of the girls held in custody may be adults; authorities are still trying determine their actual ages.

During the hearings, CPS, the parents and the judge are going over plans for what services the children will get from the state and what parents must do to regain custody.

CPS is working from a template plan that includes generalities like establishing a safe living environment and following recommendations of professionals. The template does not require them to renounce polygamy or to offer guarantees that their children will not be pushed into underage or polygamous marriages.

The FLDS children were removed from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado during a raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hotline claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old abused by a middle-aged husband. The girl has never been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.

Child welfare authorities seized the children, arguing there was widespread abuse by FLDS parents who forced underage girls into marriage and sex and trained boys to become future perpetrators.

Members of the renegade Mormon sect, which teaches polygamy brings glorification in heaven, have said they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.